THE UNIVERSITY TY YO OF F WISCONSIN WISCONSIN’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 Thursday, September 22, 2011
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Volume V Vo olu lum mee X XLIII, LII Issue 13 L LIII,
SPORTS | FOOTBALL
NEWS | JOBS
ARTS
Dominant defense lacks turnovers
Gov. Walker says 32,000 jobs are available to state’s unemployed, but a closer look into the figures shows discrepancies| 3
Screamin’ Treats
Wisconsin’s ‘D’ has come up with big stops this year — allowing only 24 points — but is stuck with a zero turnover ratio |
10
| CHEW ON THIS
Food columnist reviews best options for delectable dairyy confections up and down State Street | 7
Council approves union referendum Students will have voice on Memorial renovations with Oct. 16 campus vote Katherine Krueger Deputy News Editor The University of Wisconsin student government voted to include a referendum to gauge campus opinion on the proposed Union renovations as two members who were formally removed from the body yesterday remained at the meeting table. The contentious proposal to renovate the historic Memorial Union, which has sparked a passionate response from students on both sides of the issue, drove much of the debate, while Vice Chair Beth Huang’s removal from
office by Student Judiciary will be taken up in a special session Friday. Huang said she and Nominations Board Chair Niko Magallon were caught actively campaigning in Witte Hall in March during the run up to spring Associated Students of Madison election. Student Judiciary ruled in a suit that both officials would log 20 hours of community before Sept. 15 for the bylaw violation. Huang reported the vice chief justice said the records of the work were not received on time, so the two representatives were removed from office. Huang said Chief Justice Kate Fifield authorized a stay of the ruling until the matter is up for review tomorrow, at which time the judicial body will rule on whether to extend or terminate the stay. In an open forum that
spanned several hours, student speakers called on ASM to place the referendum on the Oct. 16 fall ballot, saying the project was lacking in sufficient opinion from the student body moving forward. Speaking against bringing the controversy to a student vote were representatives from Hoofers, a student organization that boasts hundreds of members in various clubs for outdoor recreation, who said the time taken for a poll would place a limit on student access to facilities during the construction period. Erik Oberhart, a member of Hoofer Council, said the current timeline set for the project means the group would lose one summer season of lake access near the Union. He said if the issue is placed on the ballot, outdoors enthusiasts
Megan McCormick The Badger Herald
After several meetings of debate, ASM approved allowing a referendum to gauge student opinion on the planned renovations for Memorial Union. The proposal would expand on the Union Theater and alter the iconic Memorial Terrace on the Mendota lakefront. risk losing out on an additional whole season as construction crews and machinery dominate the shoreline. “This denies access for thousands of students and jeopardizes UW’s largest student organization,” Oberhart said. Representative Cale Plamann said the Union
Council was not listening to student input on the proposal outside of committees. He also said the project could impact how much students are paying in segregated fees, although the original referendum said renovations would be partially offset by money from donors.
“You can shift money around all you want,” Plamann said. “If we’re going to have something that wasn’t originally justified and will cost students money, it would be a shame to not have the general student population vote.”
COUNCIL, page 2
MCSC waiver alleges racism in SSFC funding ASM says all groups assessed equally, org missed budget request deadline Katherine Krueger Deputy News Editor After a student group requested more than $1 million in student fees, the content of the group’s financial documents cites a mission of promoting inclusiveness on a campus characterized as “privileged” as reason to inflate the budget. The Multicultural
Student Coalition was the only student group to apply for the waiver required for budgets of more than $250,000 from the Student Services Finance Committee, but it will now be required to slash its $1.27 million budget after the waiver was rejected as a result of missing the final deadline. According to the completed waiver form, which was sent to The Badger Herald by a member of SSFC, emotionally charged rhetoric concerning a large-scale effort to change campus climate
was used as justification for the group’s budget spike to $1,270,488.20 for 2012-2013. The group, which has been on campus for nearly 10 years, laid out $696,525 for programs, $75,000 for rent expenses and $448,653.20 for staff salaries among its top expenditures in the proposed budget. “As people from marginalized identities, community is the most important aspect of selfpreservation and defense against the hostile environment that is UWMadison,” the waiver said. “Our budget is a
reflection of that.” The language of the waiver also identified education as an area that must play a key role in shifting the university environment to promote inclusiveness to all students and races and creating a community coalition to promote better support for multicultural students. MCSC leadership also said the organization would employ the increased funding to host trainings and student programming and hire additional professional staff — which would create a change affecting
nearly 42,000 students to “alter the face of campus.” The text of the waiver continues, “Money talks … especially to white people.” Members of the multicultural student group also took issue with the student segregated fee allocation process, particularly a question on the waiver form that asked groups to prioritize expenditures should the group only be granted a portion of their requested budget. In the text of the waiver, MCSC leaders characterized the request
to rank services to students as “atrocious” and composed in a “Eurocentrist spirit” that implies non-majority students are bound to the duty of educating other students. SSFC Chair Sarah Niebart disputed the claim that the process violates viewpoint neutrality policy and said she offered training on how to complete the waiver process to all General Student Service Fund groups, which MCSC did not accept. Neibart also said the
MCSC, page 4
Badger Catholic lawsuit culminates in settlement UW System to issue $500,000 to cover attorney charges in 5-year court battle Rick Ferraro Campus Reporter A nearly five year court battle regarding the University of Wisconsin’s segregated fees for campus organizations came to an end this week after a Wisconsin state court ordered the UW System to produce $500,000 in settlement funds to the Megan McCormick The Badger Herald Badger Catholic student The religiously associated group will receive enough funds to cover court fees in First Amendment lawsuit but will not obtain segregated fees that sparked the suit. organization.
Badger Catholic Chair Nico Fassino said the dispute began when funding decisions passed down by the university seemed to reflect religious discrimination. “The situation wasn’t that we had requested funding and the university denied the request; the situation was that the university had approved the funding,” Fassino said. “The lawsuit was in response to the fact that content was being censored, and money was being withheld that had already been approved because of [the organization’s] religious nature.”
The core issues revolve around the separation of church and state and the First Amendment — concepts Fassino said should not have been called into question in the dispute. According to Badger Catholic, the original amount of reimbursement money refused by the university was roughly $35,000. After the initial ruling that UW violated the group’s First Amendment rights, the university responded by bringing the issue of church and state separation to the US
CATHOLIC, page 2
Student Judiciary removes vice chair for rule violation Councilwoman charged for allegedly missing deadline for community service Adelaide Blanchard News Editor
The judicial branch of the University of Wisconsin
student government ruled Tuesday night to remove the vice chair from office for violating student council policy. Associated Students of Madison Student Judiciary Chief Justice Kate Fifield said Vice Chair Beth Huang’s dismissal stems from the community service she was required to do after admitting to
violating election rules last spring. Huang campaigned in university housing, which is not allowed under ASM bylaws. Huang was required to do 20 hours of community service and provide proof by Sept. 15, Fifield said. While she turned in paperwork saying the hours had been completed
on Sept. 15, SJ Justice Miriam Liabo ruled Huang turned the paperwork in too late in the day to let SJ have a enough time to verify and had missed the deadline. The only deadline Huang was given was for the Sept. 15, and an exact time was not included, she said. Fifield stressed she did
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not have an opinion on the proceedings. Huang said she plans to contest the Student Judiciary’s decision. She said she complied with all the conditions of the ruling and plans on using time-stamped emails from ASM leaders Tia Nowak and Sade Johnson, who verified Huang’s community
service hours and led the community service efforts Huang counted toward her hoaurs. Fifield said Nominations Board Chair Niko Magallon was also removed from his seat as part of the decision. Magallon canvassed with
JUDICIARY, page 2